How the Beauty Fell in Love With the Beast
by dazzlingglass
Summary: This is the story of how Belle came to fall in love with Rumpelstiltskin. It is from Belle's point of view, showing how she fell for the man she truly believes Rumpelstiltskin can be. It closely follows some of the episodes from the TV show, but will also fill in some of the blanks between flashback episodes.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Belle's sobs echoed down the cold stone halls of the Dark One's dungeons as she wept on the unforgiving bed, her measly blanket wrapped around her arms. She missed her friends and father dearly. Belle had been so miserable since coming here to be Rumpelstiltskin's housekeeper despite her attempts to make the best of things. She had never considered herself to be spoiled. Privileged, yes, but she had always strived to never take her good fortune for granted. However, the blisters that now covered her once lily soft hands and screaming of her sore muscles told her that she'd been a lot more spoiled living as a princess than she had previously suspected. Her beautiful ball gown had rubbed her skin raw and her sparkling shoes had caused her feet no small amount of grief.

_Maybe if I ask Rumpelstiltskin, he will find me some better clothes to work in._

Momentarily distracted from her grief, Belle's sobs subsided to soft sniffling and the occasional hiccup. She adored her golden ball gown, but it was hardly appropriate for the work of housekeeping. When she wasn't desperately trying to avoid ruining it while she was dusting, sweeping, and cooking, she was tripping over the hem or knocking things over with the enormous skirt. The only reason she had even worn the glittering gown the day Rumpelstiltskin came was because her father had insisted on it. Normally Belle would have argued with father against wearing such a frivolous thing. An expensive ball gown seemed hardly appropriate attire for a meeting discussing war strategy, a war that their kingdom was losing. Her father had seemed so unhappy and melancholy though since the war with the ogres had taken a turn for the worse that, when he asked her to wear the gown, Belle agreed without argument. He had said that he wanted her to look like a noble gentlelady when the Dark One responded to their plea for help, but Belle knew that it was mainly to keep her out of trouble. She couldn't very well sneak out of the castle to help aid the townspeople in their relief efforts in a huge glittering ball gown could she? Belle had always been frustrated with the fact that her father had never approved of her efforts to help their subjects. Leaving the castle might put her in harm's way, which he would never willingly allow. Belle knew that he was only trying to be a good father though and protect her, and for that, she could compromise this one time and wear the gold gown. It would be worth it if only to see her dear father smile again.

_But now I shall never see him again, let alone his smile._

Her grief renewed, Belle began to weep even louder than before. She wasn't sure how much more pain her heart could take. She had played the hero she'd read about in all her books, sacrificing her future and freedom so that her family and friends might live. However, Belle found that her books hadn't done justice to the grief and pain the hero experienced after their sacrifice had been made.

So wrapped up was she in her thoughts and sorrow that Belle never heard the creaking of the heavy door as Rumpelstiltskin sauntered into her lonely cell.

"When you so eagerly agreed to come and work for me, I assumed that you wouldn't miss your family quite so much."

Belle started and turned to face the irked voice of her captor. She quickly stood up, smoothing out the skirt of her dress. Her grief quickly turned to incredulous anger.

"I made my sacrifice for them, _of course _I miss them you _beast_!"

How this pretentious imp could be the same man Belle had read about that had ended the first ogre war to free the children soldiers, she didn't know.

"Yes, yes of course, but the crying must stop. Night after night! It's making it very difficult for me to spin! You know I do all of my best thinking then."

Tears came to Belle's eyes as the hopelessness of her situation became again apparent. He would never understand her grief or the magnitude of the price he had demanded for the lives of her family and the peace of the kingdom. Her anger turned to frustration at his inability or unwillingness to understand her plight. Maybe the Dark One really was as heartless as the stories said.

His current tactic at trying to quiet the young women clearly not working, Rumpelstiltskin seemed at a momentary loss. Not sure what else to do, he conjured a large pillow out of purple smoke.

"Here," he said, his voice somewhat softer. "Perhaps this will help?"

"For me," Belle asked skeptically, not quite trusting the gesture of what seemed like kindness.

"Not quite so beastly now am I," Rumpelstiltskin replied, tossing the pillow none to gently at her as he started out the door.

"Thank you," she said, quite confused at the turn of events and not sure exactly how to respond. "Maybe now I can get some sleep!"

"No no no. It's not to help you sleep dearie. It's to muffle your cries so I can get back to work!"

Tears once again welled in Belle's eyes at the reminder of her miserable existence under such a cruel man. One who didn't even care that she had just left everyone she'd loved and cherished and hadn't even been able to tell most of them goodbye! Belle felt completely alone. As she began to weep again, her cries were cut short by the sound of breaking glass from elsewhere in the castle. Rumpelstiltskin quickly left the room and Belle followed close behind.

The light from the full moon made it easy for Belle to spy the intruder in the main hall. Rumpelstiltskin confronted the thief as he picked up a wand from its display case. After that, everything seemed to happen so quickly for Belle. One moment the two men were exchanging remarks, then Rumpelstiltskin suddenly had an arrow head deep in his chest, and then a few seconds later, he was leading the thief to the dungeons. The whole exchange couldn't have taken more than a couple minutes.

Belle had asked Rumpelstiltskin why he thought the thief had tried to steal the wand, but the question seemed to only agitate him.

"Why for power of course dearie! Why else would someone try to steal from the Dark One?!"

Belle had thought that was an overly simplistic answer and as she laid back down to bed, she tried to sort out everything that had happened. Why would a thief try to steal from the most powerful man in all the realms? Presumably there was something here that he couldn't get anywhere else. Belle's thoughts drifted back to the wand the thief was after. She had seen it several times while she had been cleaning and it seemed so familiar.

_Where have I seen that wand before?_ Belle searched through everything she had read about magic wands, which honestly wasn't as much as she would have liked. She couldn't be one hundred percent sure, but it certainly resembled a fairy wand she had seen in the book describing the process to becoming a fairy godmother.

_Well, if I had broken into the Dark One's castle to steal a powerful object, a fairy wand would be one of the last things I'd take. Doesn't exactly scream all powerful does it? _So if the thief hadn't stolen for power, then what was he stealing for? He was obviously very good at his craft to be able to get past all the defenses Rumpelstiltskin had placed around the castle to keep thieves and beggars from coming into the castle. _If this thief is so good, then why on Earth did he break in on the worst night possible? _A full moon wasn't exactly ideal for trying to keep hidden in shadows now was it. The thief had obviously known what he was doing, so he would have known that the light from the full moon could very easily jeopardize his whole mission. The only motivation that Belle could think of for the thief to come on this specific night to steal a very specific object from the most powerful man known to exist was desperation. The thief wasn't stupid or power hungry, he was _desperate_.

Satisfied that she had deduced all she could from what she knew, Belle turned on her cot and shut her eyes, looking forward to the rest. Something else was still bothering her though and try as she might, Belle couldn't put her finger on it. Frustrated she sat up, knowing she wouldn't get any sleep until she figured out what else hadn't been quite right about the day. For the most part, that day had been just like every other day. She had cooked, cleaned, and at the end of the day had returned to her room to cry herself to sleep.

_That's it! _Rumpelstiltskin had come to her room after she had retired to quiet her crying! But what had made the encounter so abnormal that it wouldn't let her sleep?

_He'd said that my crying had distracted him. _The more Belle thought about the more sure she was that that was what had made the moment so memorable. At the time, she had thought it rather heartless and cruel of Rumpelstiltskin to demand that she no longer mourn for the absence of her friends of family, but now she wasn't so sure.

_The man who is said to dance with joy to the cries of his victims said that my sorrow was distracting him. _If the rumors of his cruelty had been entirely true, then the Dark One should have enjoyed her cries of loneliness, not pleaded with her to stop. _Maybe he's just used to a quiet castle._ Belle supposed it was possible that the Dark One was just simply adjusting to another person living in the same house as he, but her intuition told her that something else was at fault for his actions earlier that night. Kindness. With this newfound hope that maybe her captor wasn't as dark as he wanted people to believe, Belle fell to sleep quickly with a small smile on her lips.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Belle was relieved when the screaming finally stopped. She had tried to distract herself all morning from the sounds coming from down the hall by busying herself with her duties as house keeper. Every time she had thought she had succeeded though, a new shriek would pierce her thoughts. Belle didn't like this one bit.

Many people came to visit the Dark One, pleading for him to grant their wishes. Some begged for him to save the life of a loved one, others asked for aid in winning the heart of the ones they pined for. Most were genuine in their requests, but by far the worst were those that waltzed through the castle door and demanded fame, glory, and riches. Those were the people Belle couldn't stand. The Dark One only helped a small handful of the hundreds of people that came to see him. Only the most desperate visitors who were willing to accept any and all terms Rumpelstiltskin requested received his help. Most of the people he turned down left the castle sobbing quietly. Some stayed for a while and begged until, exhausted, they left hopeless. A few became violent when the Dark One refused to help them. They were the ones that their families never saw again. Belle used to despise Rumpelstiltskin for being so heartless. Most of the people who came to him were only trying to help their loved ones. However, after answering the door fifty times in her first twenty four hours as housekeeper, she began to understand his apathy. Belle didn't agree with it, but she understood. Torture, however, Belle neither understood nor would tolerate. She made up her mind then to free the prisoner.

Before entering the thief's cell, Belle prepared herself for the worst. His screams over the past several hours had been truly blood curling and after Rumpelstiltskin had revealed his intentions to skin his prisoner, Belle walked into the torture chamber fully expecting the thief to be missing a few fingers or toes. She was completely shocked to find the man intact except for some blood dripping from his mouth, nose, and one of his ears.

_ Maybe Rumpelstiltskin mentally tortured him using magic?_

Belle wondered what sort of horrors Rumpelstiltskin must have instilled inside the poor man's head to make him cry out in such pain. She could see the hurt and fear as she looked into his eyes. He was afraid for his life and afraid of being put through anymore unnecessary pain. Belle felt a surge of compassion for the man before her. He was a human being and no matter how he had wronged Rumpelstiltskin, he did not deserve to die. Deciding that the poor man had been punished more than enough for his crime, Belle released the prisoner and ushered him out the door. The thief pleaded for her to come with him and escape, but Belle refused. She had come to this castle for a purpose and she shuddered to think what the Dark One might do to her family if he found out that she had run off with his prisoner. Besides, Belle wasn't afraid of Rumpelstiltskin. He thought that just because he was powerful, that gave him the right to toy with other people's lives. When it all boiled down, he was really just a bully and Belle was not going to tolerate him beating up on those less powerful than he.

As the hours wore on while Belle waited for Rumpelstiltskin's return though, she became less and less confident in her position. Despite being so brave in front of the prisoner, she was beginning to feel a good bit anxious about how the Dark One would react when he found out that she had released his prey. Maybe he would decide that she would take the place of the prisoner and be skinned for betraying him. Belle knew that these thoughts were doing her no good and tried to distract herself with a book that she had found lying around the castle several days ago. When Rumpelstiltskin had finally returned from whatever it was he had been doing, Belle had to fight to keep her breathing steady and her pulse from shooting through the roof. He hadn't even discovered that the prisoner was gone yet and already her body was initiating the flight or fight response.

_Breathe. Just breathe slowly. You did what you had to do. Rumpelstiltskin had no right to that man's life and he had already more than paid for his crime. You did the right thing and Rumpelstiltskin will just have to be content with that._

Despite her own reassurances, Belle still almost jumped out of the chair when Rumpelstiltskin called her name from what used to be the thief's cell. He stomped into the room demanding to know what had happened to his latest prisoner. When Belle told him what she had done and why, he was absolutely furious.

"Oh, let me guess. You think he's a _hero_, stealing from me for some _noble_ cause! You read too many books dearie!"

Belle briefly wondered if Rumpelstiltskin and Gaston attended the same club against literate women as her book disappeared from her lap in a puff of purple smoke. Books planting poisonous thoughts in her head? It sounded to Belle something more along the lines of what the current company she kept would do.

"I didn't free him because of what I read in my books! I saw _good_ in him. That man only wanted to escape with his life!"

"Oh, is that what you thought? Our thief escaped with more than his life!"

Rumpelstiltskin gestured to the empty case where the wand had been displayed that morning. _No. I freed him. I saved his life! Surely he wouldn't have endangered mine by stealing the wand again! _Belle felt the anger and frustration she had been running off of up until this point suddenly deflate as the truth set in. _I'm such a fool! The man was desperate enough to try and steal from the Dark One once, of course he would try to do so again! I should have kept a better eye on him when he left! _

"Th—there has to be another explanation," Belle stuttered. "We—we don't know _why _he needed that wand!"

"He took the wand because he wanted magic! People who steal magic _never_ have good intentions!"

_Know that from personal experience, do you?_ Belle thought bitterly. She wouldn't give in, she knew the thief had had a very good reason for taking that wand. Someone desperate and foolish enough to risk their own life to steal from the Dark One in the way this thief had done did not do so for purely selfish reasons. No, the thief was not stealing magic in order to conquer the world, he was doing it because he was in a situation where he felt he had no other choice.

"No. No. You can't tell what's in a person's heart until you _truly_ know them."

"Oh, we'll see what's in his heart all right when I shoot an arrow through it! And because I am a showman, it'll be with _his_ bow! And because this is _your_ fault, you get to come with me and watch, and know that as the blood drips from his carcass, it'll be your rags to wipe it up!" Rumpelstiltskin all but exploded.

Belle began to seriously doubt the glimpse of what she had thought was kindness when he had given her the pillow the previous night.

_He really is a monster. Surely someone who would be willing to hunt down and torture a thief for a stolen object that they won't even miss is full of nothing but evil._

However, the more Belle tried to convince herself of this, the more she found that there was a small part of her that couldn't fully prescribe to the notion of a person being fully evil. Not even the Dark One. As Belle grabbed her cloak and followed Rumpelstiltskin out of the castle, she desperately hoped for the sake of the thief that this small part of her was right.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Belle felt like they had been riding in the carriage for ages. She had been excited when she and Rumpelstiltskin had started the journey. When Rumpelstiltskin had brought her to his castle to be his housekeeper, he had transported them using magic. Such instantaneous travel was very convenient, but had left Belle with little knowledge as to what the land surrounding the castle had actually looked like. She had seen glimpses of the forest from the windows of course as well as when she hung Rumpelstiltskin's clothes out to dry, but she had never been allowed to explore beyond a hundred feet or so from the castle walls and the forest was so dense that she wasn't able to see much through the trees. Finally getting to see just what existed beyond the castle walls had been exhilarating for the first half hour until Belle realized that once you had seen a couple dozen trees and shrubs, you had basically seen them all. The forest surrounding the castle seemed to stretch on forever, and despite the fact that they had been traveling for several hours, it wasn't getting any thinner.

Belle desperately wished she had something to read to keep her mind off of the purpose of their journey. Rumpelstiltskin had rushed her out of the castle in such a hurry that she'd had barely enough time to grab her coat, let alone find a new book since he had taken her last one. Belle's only consolation was that the longer it took them to track down the thief, the less likely they were to find him.

The carriage continued to lumber down the soggy dirt road. Unable to keep her mind from imagining what Rumpelstiltskin had in store for the thief when he found him, Belle asked the question that had been burning in the back of her mind since they had started the trip that morning.

"Why do you have a carriage?"

"What do you mean 'why do I have a carriage?' _Of course_ I have a carriage dearie. Doesn't everyone with a little wealth have a carriage?" Rumpelstiltskin replied, making it very obvious that he thought the question was quite ridiculous.

"Well yes, but they can't magically transport themselves wherever they want to go like you can. It just seems that you wouldn't have much use for a carriage when you can easily transport yourself wherever you please instantly."

Rumpelstiltskin gave Belle a thoughtful look. He was used to having his motives for owning certain possessions questioned, but rarely in such a rational and curious manner. Usually the people who were questioning why he did this or why he wanted that were doing so either through sobs or expletives.

"The reason I have a carriage is to find people who are hiding from me dearie. I can't transport myself to a person if I don't know where they are. For instance, let's say a thief came and stole something from and then _miraculously _managed to escape. I need the carriage so I can hunt him down and show him why people don't steal from Rumpelstiltskin!" He finished with his usual flourish.

"Oh. I, um, I see. Yes, I suppose that does make sense." Belle replied quietly. She had also been wondering why he had needed horses to pull the carriage if he could have just used magic instead and wanted to know how he could use magic to track where a person had been but couldn't use it to just find where the person was right then, but she decided that now may not be the time to ask him more questions.

Silence once again pervaded the space between them. It was several long minutes before either of them spoke again.

"I'm losing track of him. The forest is too thick." Rumpelstiltskin seemed slightly frustrated by this, as if the woods themselves were purposely defying him.

"Maybe we should return home." Belle quipped hopefully.

"What, and let the thief _escape_? What would people think if I spared the life of someone who stole from me?"

"That there's actually a man hiding behind the beast?"

Despite all that Rumpelstiltskin had done to disprove this, Belle had glimpsed the man he had once been before being cursed with the power of the Dark One. She had to hope, even if it was against all reason, that the man was still there, buried under the beast of absolute power.

"There isn't." Rumpelstiltskin replied definitively.

"Then why didn't you kill me when I freed the prisoner?"

Not that Belle was complaining. She had been very relieved that he had not killed her or decided to torture and skin her in place of the thief. She didn't know why he hadn't killed her since even Rumpelstiltskin himself thought he was the darkest soul to ever walk the planet, but for some reason he had shown her mercy. Belle seriously hoped that she wasn't pushing her luck by asking him this question.

"Well, I would have, but, uh, good help these days is really hard to find."

_Liar. _Belle had grown up a princess. She had been taught things like etiquette and diplomacy, not cooking and cleaning. Belle had burnt almost everything she had cooked, broken more than one valuable object, and had accidently torn the fringe off one of the drapes since she had started working for Rumpelstiltskin as his housekeeper. Belle was a quick learner, but she was still far from what someone might consider "good help."

"I think you are not as dark as you want people to believe. I think that deep down, there's love in your heart and for something more than power."

Rumpelstiltskin seemed to ponder this a moment and then leaned in, like he was about to tell Belle a well hidden secret.

"You're right, there is something I love." He said gently and leaned a little closer. "My things," he spat loudly, making Belle jump. He signaled for the carriage to stop.

"You really are as dark as people say."

"No, darker dearie. Much. Darker."

Rumpelstiltskin clambered out of the carriage as a man with what appeared to be a prison cart behind him approached them from a fork in the road. Belle followed close behind. The man, obviously drunk, staggered off his horse, only barely managing to stay on his feet. Belle fancied she could smell the reek of alcohol from him even though he was still several feet away.

"What are you doing in my woods?" The man managed to slur out.

"Pardon the intrusion sheriff, I'm looking for a thief. He attacked me with this bow. I traced him as far as these woods, and then he vanished," Rumpelstiltskin explained. Belle didn't know why Rumpelstiltskin was bothering with this sheriff. He looked like he hadn't been sober in weeks, how could he possibly answer the questions he had?

"Yes, I know exactly who you're after, but I also know who _you _are, Rumpelstiltskin," the sheriff replied, much to Belle's surprise. Maybe the man wasn't nearly as daft as he looked.

"My reputation exceeds me, excellent." Rumpelstiltskin was flattered by the fame the title of the Dark One had brought him.

"Yes, as does your penchant for making deals. I'll tell you where you can find your thief if you give me something in return." The sheriff took a swig from the flask in his hand.

"What do you want?" Belle could tell that what little patience Rumpelstiltskin had for this man was quickly running out.

"A night with your wench!" Belle's heart stopped and the smile that the sheriff gave her made her blood run cold. Rumpelstiltskin turned back to look at her. _Oh please no, please no, please no. _Belle wasn't sure what she would do if the Dark One agreed. She couldn't outrun horses on the road, but maybe she could hide somewhere in the woods. That wouldn't do her any good though because Rumpelstiltskin would just use his magic to find her though.

Rumpelstiltskin turned back to the sheriff, "She's not for sale."

Belle thought she might faint from the sudden relief that coursed through her. She may not have been very good at housekeeping, but at least Rumpelstiltskin found more use for her than to barter her away for information to fix the mess she had caused.

"You can't part with her for, say, an hour? 20 minutes?"

_No, no he can't. Not if it means leaving me with you, you hedonistic brute!_

"Let me think. Um…." With a flick of his wrist, black smoke swirled from the sheriff's mouth to the Dark One's hand. To Belle's disgust she saw the man's tongue writhing in Rumpelstiltskin's hand as the sheriff gagged in surprise, lifting his hand to his mouth.

"I propose a new deal," the Dark One giggled in delight. "I give you this back, and in return, you tell me everything you know about the man I am hunting." Belle abhorred violence, but in the case of the sheriff, she thought the deal kinder than he deserved. The sheriff tried to speak, but all he could manage where a few grunting noises.

"You ought to be more careful with your possessions," the Dark One chided him. "Do you agree to my terms?" The sheriff continued to grunt, apparently still not quite understanding that you can't speak without a tongue.

"What was that?" Rumpelstiltskin leaned in a bit closer as the man began to grunt louder. "All right, I'll take that as a 'yes' then."

Again the Dark One flicked his wrist and the black smoke appeared again, replacing the man's tongue. The sheriff gasped a few times and pulled at his tongue to make sure it was really back and attached properly.

"Start talking."

"The thief you've been after, I've been chasing him for years. He ruined me! He stole the woman I love and made me the laughingstock of all of Nottingham." Belle doubted that the sheriff needed a whole lot of help with that endeavor. She didn't think that the woman he had loved had needed much convincing when it came to whether or not to leave him either, especially if he had looked at her with the same animal lust that Belle had seen in his eyes not moments earlier.

"Where can I find him," Rumpelstiltskin asked, clearly not interested in the man's life story. He only wanted to find his thief.

"Well, last I heard, he was hiding out in Sherwood forest."

"And his name?"

"Robin Hood." The sheriff said the name as if it were a poison he was forcing from his mouth, "He goes by Robin Hood."

Satisfied with the information he had received, Rumpelstiltskin turned from the sheriff and beckoned Belle back into the carriage. As soon as they had both sat on the red cushions, the carriage lurched forward and left the sheriff and his men behind. As happy as she was to be away from the sheriff, Belle was worried about the fate of Robin Hood. It seemed that the thief had just run out of luck. The Dark One knew where Robin Hood was hiding, and it would only be a matter of time before he found him.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

They had ridden down the muddy, puddle-filled rode for the better part of an hour when Rumpelstiltskin stopped the cart abruptly and stepped out.

"Come along dearie, your thief isn't far now."

Belle's mind began to race. She had to do something to warn Robin Hood that they were coming. She tried to make as much noise as possible without being too obvious, hoping that maybe the thief would be able to hear them before they saw him. However, between the unwieldy size of her skirt and the difficulty of trying to walk through the forest in heels, Belle found that she didn't have to try all that hard to make a lot of noise as she stumbled across the branches that seemed to cross her every step. Her skirt snagged on every twig they passed by and Belle was honestly surprised that her shoes were still in one piece, even after the numerous rabbit holes she had accidentally stepped in and the branches she had tripped over. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for her ankles. She was positive that she had twisted the right one after her heel had gotten stuck in a patch of soft mud and nearly caused her to fall flat on her face.

_I have got to talk to Rumpelstiltskin about getting some different clothes when we get back to castle._

Of course, they would only return to the castle when the Dark One had completed his morbid deed. There must be _something_ that Belle could do or say to convince Rumpelstiltskin that he didn't need to kill Robin Hood. If she could just reach the good man that was hiding behind the evil of the Dark One, she knew that she could convince him that he didn't need to kill to make a point. How exactly she was going to get to that good part of him, Belle wasn't sure.

"You, you know it's still not too late to turn back," She suggested. _It's not too late, Rumpelstiltskin. You can still do the right thing. You can still let all of this go and go back home without blood on your hands._

He continued to trudge along ahead of her, as if he hadn't even heard her.

"You know I am not going to stand by and watch you kill a man!"

"Well you're welcome to sit if you like, but you are going to watch."

_Not the response I was going for, but at least he's listening. Maybe if I can just keep him talking, Robin Hood will hear us and he will be able to get away._

Rumpelstiltskin continued, "That's the whole point of our little expedition, remember? To see what your actions wrought."

Belle tried to think of something else to say to keep him talking. It shouldn't be that hard, Rumpelstiltskin was _always_ talking, but before she could come up with anything further to distract him.

"Found him!" Rumpelstiltskin exclaimed.

_No! _Robin Hood was standing directly in front of them next to a large tree which concealed him from the road. Belle found it an odd location for a thief on the run to stop for a rest, but she pushed any further thoughts about the matter out of her mind. She had to find some way to convince Rumpelstiltskin not to kill Robin Hood!

"Look, he's waiting for someone," Belle observed.

A horse drawn cart came rattling down the road, and as soon as Robin Hood caught sight of it, he ran towards the cart. Belle could just make out a woman laying the cart underneath several blankets. The woman was coughing and as pale as death.

"That must be the woman he stole from the sheriff," Rumpelstiltskin remarked. _More like that he saved from the sheriff,_ Belle thought. She shuddered when she thought of the way the sheriff had looked at her, like a piece of meat he was about to consume.

"She's sick, she's going to die." Surely even the Dark One wasn't so dark as to kill a man for trying to save his love!

"Yeah, and so is he," Rumpelstiltskin replied. Belle couldn't believe her ears. She had seen for herself that there was good deep down in Rumpelstiltskin. The man beneath the beast couldn't allow for him to do such a cruel and evil thing.

"Stop!" Belle pulled down Rumpelstiltskin's arm as he tried to draw back the bow.

Robin Hood took out the magic wand and waved it slowly up and down the length of the woman's body. As he did so, the wand sparkled a glittering gold and the woman stopped coughing and the color returned to her face.

_I knew the thief didn't steal the wand for power. I knew it!_

"I'm right about him! About why he stole the wand," Belle declared triumphantly. "He did it so he could heal the woman he loves!"

"He's still a thief," Rumpelstiltskin replied, not liking to be proved wrong.

"And she would have died if he hadn't stolen your wand."

"And now _he _gets to die," Rumpelstiltskin exploded. "And she can tell all of Sherwood Forest what happens when you cross Rumpelstiltskin!"

Suddenly everything around Belle was several feet taller and she felt an immense pressure weighing down her legs and torso. Looking around, Belle found that she was indeed several feet shorter, everything from her waist down was buried in the forest floor. _He's buried my legs in the ground! I can't move! I can't stop him! _She desperately tried to pull herself free, but she knew it was no use.

"That should give you a good view." Rumpelstiltskin knocked an arrow

"You don't have to do this! There's good in you!" Belle desperately tried to get Rumpelstiltskin's attention as he drew back the arrow and took aim. If she could just get him to listen to what she was saying!

"I was right about the thief and I am right about you!" She knew that Rumpelstiltskin had good in him! The Dark One may have tricked everyone else and may have corroded the man's very soul, but Belle had seen kindness in Rumpelstiltskin, had seen the man behind the mask of power and cruelty. Monsters didn't give their servants pillows or leave their prisoners with either the energy or ability to run away after torturing them. Belle had once seen a prisoner of her father's who had been charged with betraying the kingdom to the enemy. What Rumpelstiltskin had done to his thief was quite merciful in comparison to what the traitor had looked like after the interrogator her father had hired was done "questioning" the poor man. If she could just get Rumpelstiltskin to see the goodness that still existed inside him!

Just then the woman stood to get out of the cart, the blanket she had been using to cover herself for warmth fell away, revealing her to be with child. Robin Hood gently helped her out of the cart.

"Look! She's pregnant!"

Rumpelstiltskin lowered the bow hesitantly. It was clear that he was no longer so sure about his decision to shoot Robin Hood and the conflict going on inside him was plain on his face.

"You are not the kind of man to leave a child fatherless." Belle was so desperate to convince Rumpelstiltskin of this that she could feel the tears well up in her eyes and a sob catch in her throat.

Robin Hood and his wife stood before them, happy to once again be in each other's arms, completely unaware of the murderous intent of their hidden audience. The thief drew his wife close, planting a kiss on her lips. Rumpelstiltskin raised his bow again, drawing back the arrow and taking his aim. In one deft motion, the Dark One released the arrow and it flew straight at the happy couple standing before them.

"NO!" Belle shouted in despair. She had tried so hard to keep the thief safe and to show Rumpelstiltskin that there was still good to be had within himself, and it had all been for nothing.

Or had it? The arrow whizzed by Robin Hood's head by no more than a hair's breadth. The thief, clearly startled, said something to his wife that Belle couldn't quite make out as he rushed her to a nearby horse.

Belle was completely relieved and utterly confused. Hadn't the Dark One's plan this entire time been to kill the thief? Not that Belle was complaining, but Rumpelstiltskin had never once wavered in his resolve to track down Robin Hood and make him pay for his theft with his life. Yet, there the thief was, climbing onto the horse behind his wife, very much alive. Still buried waist deep in the dirt, Belle turn toward Rumpelstiltskin as best she could, "What happened?"

"I missed." Rumpelstiltskin replied quietly, scowling. With a flamboyant gesture of his hand, Belle once again found herself to be her normal height and her legs no longer buried beneath the forest floor. Robin Hood and his wife rode off into the forest.

_He did it. Rumpelstiltskin spared the thief's life. I was right, there is good in him._ Belle didn't know what had happened that had changed Rumpelstiltskin's mind, but she was glad for it.

"Get back to the carriage. I'm bored of this forest." Rumpelstiltskin was doing his best to sound as if he was above all this petty nonsense about thieves and wands and magic bows, but Belle wasn't fooled.

"You're not going after him?" Belle asked.

"He's not worth the effort."

"You spared his life." Rumpelstiltskin had done a wonderful thing and had conquered some of the darkness inside him. Belle was going to make sure he knew it, whether he wanted to or not.

"What?! I did nothing of the sort."

"That bow has magic in it. It never misses its target." Belle wasn't going to let him get away that easy.

"Well perhaps the magic simply wore…" Rumpelstiltskin turned to face her. Belle looked straight into his golden eyes, a slight grin on her face. "…off." Rumpelstiltskin quietly finished. He had not expected her to be quite so close.

Belle wrapped her arms around his neck. She wasn't sure what to expect at first. She had honestly expected that he would be cold and stiff and that she would have to hold her breath to keep from passing out from his stench. After all, shouldn't evil people smell like decay and rot? That's the way it was always described as in her books. Yet, Rumpelstiltskin wasn't like that at all. Belle could feel the warmth from his body as she pulled him close to hug him and, although stiff at first, she could feel him start to relax after a second or two. Most surprising of all, Belle found his scent to be quite pleasant. Rumpelstiltskin smelled of earth and wool and leather, not entirely unlike the books she had always spent so much time with.

She pulled away and gave Rumpelstiltskin one last smile before heading back to the carriage, leaving him not entirely sure what to do. It had been a long time since he had allowed anyone to get close enough, emotionally or physically, to hug him. As he watched Belle walk away, he decided that he rather liked being hugged by Belle. It had been so long since he had had anyone care about him that he had almost forgotten what it felt like. Rumpelstiltskin quickly pushed these thoughts away though. He had just one mission, one goal. It was the entire reason he had become the Dark One to begin with and he couldn't let anyone, not even Belle, distract him from it. Besides, eventually she would see him for the monster he really was and he would be all alone again, despised and rejected.

Belle turned back to him. "Aren't you coming?" She asked with a smile.

Rumpelstiltskin picked up his quiver. He allowed himself a small smile. Despite the inevitable hatred that he knew Belle would eventually develop for him, just as everyone else did, he couldn't help the warm feeling that Belle had given him in his heart. As he followed her back to the carriage, Rumpelstiltskin decided that it wouldn't do him any harm to hold on to that feeling for just a little bit longer.

* * *

Belle couldn't believe how soon they arrived back at the castle. The journey to find the escaped thief seemed to have taken ages, made even longer by the worry and anxiety she had felt surrounding the entire situation. The ride back had been quite pleasant though. Rumpelstiltskin had been quiet for the entire trip, deep in thought. Even his silence was different than before though. During that morning's trip, the Dark One had been much more brooding and disdainful, whereas now, Rumpelstiltskin appeared contemplative more than anything.

_I knew there was good in him, I just had to make him see it for himself! _The man had spent so long being hated, feared, and despised by people who called him monster that he had begun to believe it himself, and had begun to enact their worst expectations of him with fervor. _Perhaps that is why I am here, _Belle wondered. _Perhaps I am here to show Rumpelstiltskin that he doesn't have to be the monster everyone expects him to be._

When they had reached the castle that night, Belle asked Rumpelstiltskin if there was anything else that he needed before she turned in for the night. When he didn't respond, Belle wished him goodnight and turned to leave.

"No, wait. There is something else," Rumpelstiltskin replied before she had taken more than a few steps.

He led her down a hall that Belle had never noticed before and up a winding staircase that resembled those that you might find in the turrets that surrounded the castle. Belle could not believe her eyes when she saw what was at the top. It was the most beautiful library she had ever seen. The round room at the top of the stairs was filled with books and huge windows that offered views as far as the eye could see in every direction.

"Temper your excitement dearie. This is merely another room for you to clean."

"It's…it's beautiful." Belle could scarcely take in all the books that surrounded her. The bookshelves themselves extended all the way from the floor to the ceiling and there was a ladder connected so that she could reach any book she wished. A small red and gold couch sat in the middle of the room for the luxury of the reader to lounge upon as they traveled to the distant lands in the pages of their book. Belle thought she had never seen anything so amazing in her entire life.

"There's more books in here than I could read in a lifetime."

"Well, I hope you can clean faster than you can read," Rumpelstiltskin replied.

Belle walked over to a nearby table to find the book that Rumpelstiltskin had confiscated from her earlier that day. Even her bookmark was between the pages where she had left it.

"Did you do all this for me?" Belle could scarcely believe all that she was seeing.

"I better not see a single speck of dust gathering on any of these books," Rumpelstiltskin replied. Belle smiled. She would just have to take that as a yes. If she were still looking for evidence of the kindness that existed in Rumpelstiltskin's heart, this alone would have been proof enough.

"What are you smiling at? I'm serious."

Belle placed the book she had been holding back onto the table and took Rumpelstiltskin's hand in her own.

"You're not who I thought you were," Belle said looking into his slightly confused golden brown eyes, "and I'm glad." Rumpelstiltskin gave her a small smile in return. _Maybe life here with Rumpelstiltskin won't be so bad after all._


End file.
